More than 100 centres will be opened over the next year, with plans to offer at least nine million scans and other checks, initially on an appointment basis.

Mr Javid struck a personal note in the speech when he said: “I lost my dad to this vicious disease and I know all too well, the grief and the heartbreak that that brings. He had colon cancer. But by the time that he was diagnosed, it was too late. It had already spread to his lungs and liver.”

He said that the experience impressed upon him that “when it comes to cancer, there isn’t a moment to spare. Who knows, if he’d been diagnosed a bit earlier, he may still be with us today, and he could have been alive to see me become the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.”

He said the future would see a greater role for “self-referral” so people could undergo checks such as scans without a GP’s referral.

“I’ve heard too many cases where people basically had to go to their GP maybe three or four times until the cancer was detected. And that’s what we want to try and improve,” he said. 

Currently, 55 per cent of patients with cancer are diagnosed in the early stages, when it is easier to treat. Mr Javid said he wanted to go further than the current target, to achieve this for three in four patients by 2028.